Hotly debated heading into rookie drafts last season and now again this season is the potential of Eagles wide receiver, Jalen Reagor. Is he good? Do you want him on your fantasy team? Are the Eagles bad at developing wide receiver talent? All of these are valid questions that we honestly don’t have a definite answer to. I’m going to try to provide those answers today.
Draft Profile
It can not be questioned that Reagor is a top-tier athlete. He ran a 4.47 40 which placed him in the 74th percentile. PlayerProfiler has him at a 98th percentile burst score. He has a lot of the traits we look for in a young wide receiver as well: young breakout age (18.7) and a dominator rating over thirty (36.7%). He even has first-round draft capital after landing with the Eagles at the 21st pick. Measurables are great, but in the end, they don’t always translate to a great player. For example, check out how Reagor stacks up to fellow TCU alumnus, and NFL bust, Josh Doctson.
College Production
At TCU Reagor produced decent enough. His sophomore year he saw an increase in production before taking a hit with rough QB play in his junior season. Reager was used in the run game and special teams as well, which is always a plus. Tracking Reagor’s potential fantasy points in college reveals something though, his floor, while it increased in 2018, is extremely low.
So the question remains whether or not Reagor is truly responsible for the dip in productivity in his junior season or if blame can be pushed onto Max Duggan.
NFL Production
Another reason we still are unsure of what Reagor can do is his limited sample in the NFL thus far. After starting the first two games of the season, he was injured and went on IR until week eight. During his rookie campaign, he never caught more than five passes in a game and only went over 50 yards in a game once, in a single-reception game against Washington. A lot of Reagor truthers have again blamed bad quarterback play, citing Carson Wentz’s lackluster 2020 season.
Future
Heading into 2021, Reagor looks to be catching passes from Jalen Hurts. This might not be much of an upgrade at the QB position as Hurts only completed 52% of his passes last season. How long can we blame bad QB-play for his lack of performance? There are rumors that the Eagles could attempt to go after a QB in this draft, but that has been downplayed by the franchise at this point. An upgrade at the position would push Reagor up in value, but whether or not he could capitalize on it, remains to be seen.
The Eagles have not had luck with receiver development in recent years, giving up on first-rounder Nelson Agholor before he had a mini-breakout in Las Vegas and the flop that has been JJ Arcega-Whiteside. They are expected to draft another pass catcher early in the 2021 draft as well. If something doesn’t change in Philly, things could be very bad for Jalen Reagor going forward.
Conclusion
The jury is still out on Jalen Reagor. Nothing illustrates this more than when I recently posed the very question I’ve attempted to answer on Twitter. The first three responses were: “yes”, “no”, and “TBD”. In reality, I don’t really know what to do with Reagor. I don’t have him on any rosters, and I don’t have a desire to trade for him. I see him as being a Christian Kirk or Mecole Hardman, a player that can provide you big weeks, but more times than not will tank your team.
The hope is that he can become 2020 Will Fuller and be more than just a field stretcher. The difference being Will Fuller ran a tenth and a half faster 40 and played with an elite quarterback.
As things stand now, I think Reagor is a spot flex-start if you’re in a matchup and need a guy that can get you a boom week. He’s a hold in dynasty with hopes that the Eagles offense gets better and he benefits from the efficiency.
So to finally answer the question: is Jalen Reagor good? Maybe.
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